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Hi there, I'm Rose. I love to cook food - and eat it. If you have any questions concerning any of my recipes, drop me a line at:
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rose [at] avocadobravado.net
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At first glance, mast-o khiar looks an awful lot like Greek tzatziki. There are countless versions of yogurt and cucumber based dips stretching from Greece to India. Mast-o khiar is a very simple and straightforward dip, it means “yogurt and cucumber” in Persian. Persian cucumbers are most commonly used for this dip. They have thin skins and don’t require any peeling, but they may be unavailable in your area. If you can’t find them, you can easily substitute with common cucumbers available at your local supermarket, but be sure to cut off their bitter skins and deseed them. Serve with warm flat bread, pita chips, and vegetables.
Mast-o Khiar (Persian Yogurt & Cucumber Dip)
(adapted from Claudia Roden’s The New Book of Middle Eastern Food)
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16 oz yogurt, preferably strained or Greek
2 tablespoons dried or chopped fresh mint
salt & pepper, to taste
2 Persian cucumbers, sliced and chopped
Optional garnishes: more chopped cucumbers, ground dried rose petals, more mint (fresh or dried), olive oil
In a large bowl, beat together yogurt until smooth. Add the mint, salt, and pepper and mix thoroughly. Fold in the cucumbers and serve with warm flat bread, pita chips, or vegetables. Add more salt, if necessary. Garnish with any of the following: more cucumbers, mint, dried ground rose petals, or olive oil.
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Two summers ago, I took an accelerated German course at my university. The class is mostly a blur to me now. I quickly got lost in the sea of nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive pronouns. The course began two days after I arrived back to the States from Cairo. So I spent the entire semester accidentally speaking in Arabic, much to the horror of my Saudi Arabian classmate (“You’re an American! Why you speak Arabic?”). There were definitely a lot of highlights from that semester, like watching Lola rennt and translating Trio’s “Da Da Da” into English.
I spent much of that semester starving myself. Not because I was trying to lose weight or anything, mind you. Work and school were an hour away by bus and I was often too lazy to pack anything with me other than mujaddara. I’d leave for work at 10 or 11 in the morning, work until I finished everything for the day, study in the language lab, attend class, and finally catch a bus back home. I usually wouldn’t arrive home until about midnight. I’d collapse on my bed and repeat the same thing the next day. At the very end of the semester, our class threw a party. I was thrilled because this meant free food. The students brought the usual fare of cookies, brownies, and cakes. But our lecturer, a PhD student who was born in Turkey but grew up in Berlin, brought a “Turkish potato salad”. After I took one bite I asked, “is this sumac?”
She nodded.
I had never tasted sumac before, but I was just learning how to cook at the time and had read all about it. Sumac is a tangy, salty, and sour spice made from dried and crushed berries. It quickly became one of my favorite spices. Sumac is used primarily as a souring agent, it’s what the Romans used before the introduction of lemons. I use sumac in just about everything now – hummus, chicken, salads, lentils, roasted vegetables, and of course, za’atar. I’ve gone through almost a pound of sumac in the last 8 months (I obviously don’t starve myself anymore), yet I’ve never tried to recreate the potato salad that made me fall so in love with sumac. Until the other day, that is. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. You may not be able to find sumac at your local supermarket, but it’s easily available at Middle Eastern groceries or online.
Sumac Potato Salad
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1 lb potatoes, chopped into bite-sized pieces
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon ground sumac
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
salt & pepper, to taste
Place potatoes in a saucepan filled with water and bring to a gentle boil. Continue boiling the potatoes until are tender, about 10-12 minutes.
While the potatoes are boiling, chop the herbs and whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, sumac, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Drain the potatoes to a colander and then transfer to a large bowl. Toss in the dressing and the chopped herbs. Add more salt and pepper, if necessary. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Serves 3-4 as a side dish
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Every Sunday morning, I plan our meals for the week. It usually involves scouring cookbooks, favorite food blogs, searching through hundreds of unorganized bookmarks (I should really do something about that), and writing my own recipes. For the past few weeks, I’ve abandoned that process altogether and have just gone produce shopping with only a vague idea of what to cook. This has mostly worked out fine, but I’m always left with uneaten produce at the end of the week. My eyes are bigger than what our appetites can handle, it seems.
As I raided the fridge on Sunday to start preparing dinner, I found two forgotten Persian cucumbers from the week before. They don’t show up at my local produce market very often. So I tossed them in my basket and made a mental note to make mast-o khiar, a yogurt-based Persian cucumber dip. Then I forgot about them. For a whole week. Tsk, tsk.
Like English and Japanese cucumbers, Persian cucumbers don’t need to be peeled or seeded. For this salad, you can certainly use common cucumbers available at your local supermarket or garden. Though I suggest peeling the cucumbers, since the skins are thick and bitter. This salad made for a cool, refreshing side dish, but it would also be great in a wrap or pita with tahini dressing, chickpeas, and alfalfa sprouts.
Cucumber and Radish Salad
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2 medium Persian cucumbers, sliced and chopped into small pieces
4 radishes, thinly sliced and chopped into small pieces
1/2 cup red onion, diced
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
2 tablespoons mint, chopped
1 teaspoon ground sumac
salt & pepper, to taste
In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, sumac, salt, and pepper. Add the cucumbers, radishes, onion, and toss together. Now, add the fresh mint and parsley and toss together until thoroughly mixed. If necessary, season with more salt and pepper and serve.
Serves 4-6 as a side dish
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Some people have their favorite recipes and stick to them forever. When I talk to my dad and he tells me he’s making squash or chicken for dinner, I know exactly what he’s talking about. I try keep things constantly changing in the kitchen, but there are a few recipes I rarely ever stray from – mujaddara, for example. As much as I love the traditional hummus bi tahina (hummus with tahini), I’m constantly looking for new ways to reinvent it. I’ve been accused of being a hummus purist and even a snob, but that’s simply not true. I’ve just made it a personal mission to inform people that hummus means “chickpeas” in Arabic. It’s silly to call beet hummus, white bean hummus, edamame hummus, lima bean hummus, etc. hummus if the recipes don’t contain chickpeas. If you see a crazy lady rocking back and forth at a bus stop in San Francisco mumbling under her breath, “hummus means chickpeas in Arabic…” That’s me. Feel free to say hi.
Usually when I prepare hummus, I use canned garbanzo beans and simmer them in a saucepan with some water for 15-20 minutes. I find that this method helps the beans blend easier and improves the texture of the hummus. Plus, I love popping a few garbanzo beans into my mouth. They’re melt-in-your mouth delicious after simmering for 15 minutes or so. There are Syrian grandmothers who swear by soaking the garbanzos overnight and discarding the skins of the beans for the creamiest hummus possible, but I’ll leave that time consuming method to the experts (grandmothers, that is).
I’ve been on a garlic roasting kick lately. I’d say we’re going through 3 to 4 bulbs of garlic a week… and I have the breath to prove it. I’ve been adding roasted garlic to everything. Potatoes, toast, salad dressings, and now hummus. Apparently, there is such a thing as too much raw garlic. Not really for me, but for Cory. So I added roasted garlic to this batch of hummus. With roasted garlic, you get the garlic taste without at all being overpowering. The fresh herbs add a nice kick and a lovely pale green color.
Hummus with Roasted Garlic and Herbs
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1 bulb of garlic, roasted
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 15-oz can of garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained plus 1 cup of reserved water
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup tahini (roasted is best, but raw is fine)
2 tablespoons freshly chopped chives, plus extra for garnish
2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley, plus extra for garnishing
salt, to taste
Preheat oven to 350F. Slice the top of the garlic bulb open, revealing the tips of the cloves. Place the garlic on a sheet of aluminum foil and drizzle a teaspoon of oil over it. Wrap the bulb in the aluminum foil, place on a baking sheet, and roast for 35 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the rest of the hummus. Drain and rinse the can of beans. Toss the garbanzos into a small sauce pan with a cup of water and simmer on low heat for 15-20 minutes.
Remove from heat and set aside. Juice lemons, set aside tahini, and chop the herbs. Add the lemon juice, chives, parsley, salt, and a ladleful of garbanzos with some reserved water. Pulse together in a food processor or blender. Continue adding garbanzos a ladleful at a time and blending, adding more water until needed. Continue this method until all the garbanzos have been blended.
By now, the garlic should be ready. Open up the foil and let the garlic cool until easy enough to handle with your hands. Pop the cloves out of the bulb into a small bowl. Take a fork and smash the garlic until formed into a paste. Toss the paste into the blender and pulse until thoroughly blended. Transfer the hummus to a large bowl. Add the tahini to the bowl and mix thoroughly, this will thicken the hummus considerably. Taste the hummus, adding a couple more pinches of salt or lemon juice, if needed.
Serve with warm flat bread, pita chips, or your favorite raw vegetables. Garnish with olive oil, extra freshly chopped herbs, and spices (thyme, sumac, za’atar, paprika, etc).
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Cory’s brother Casey has returned to the Midwest and life here has returned to normal. We were on our feet for much of the extended weekend and visited various parts of the city – Inner Sunset, Inner Richmond, Golden Gate Park, Haight Ashbury, Japantown, North Beach, Chinatown, Alamo Square (the Full House houses), and we even accidentally stumbled into Fisherman’s Wharf. I vowed to never take any visitors to the Wharf. We’re hip 20-somethings, after all. Not fanny pack wearing grandmothers who collect decorative roosters and bonnet wearing swans. Between all the walking, dining out (Indian, Vietnamese, and Puerto Rican food), I did manage to squeeze in some cooking and I even finished Fable 2 (priorities!).
We had less than a 24 hour notice to prepare for Casey’s arrival, so I wanted to make a hefty amount of food to carry us through the evenings when I’d be too exhausted to cook. Tagines are a favorite in our apartment, I love the contrast of sweet and savory flavors. It’s been a long time since I’ve purchased prunes, so I was tickled to discover that they’re now being marketed as dried plums. That’s what they are, of course, but the word “prune” conjures up images of old folks discussing their fiber intake. Nope, prunes are not nearly as sexy as dried plums.
Beef Tagine with Prunes and Raisins
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2-3 tablespoons cooking oil
1 very large onion, diced
3-5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground clove
red pepper flakes or cayenne, to taste
salt & pepper, to taste
1 1/2 lbs beef stewing meat, cut into cubes
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes, with their juices
2 cups potatoes, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 15-oz can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup prunes, halved
1/4 cup raisins
1 tablespoon honey
chopped parsley or cilantro, for garnish
couscous, bulgur, rice, or millet (for serving, about 1/4 cup per person)
Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. When hot, add the onions and cook until softened, about 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and spices, cook for an additional minute, stirring often. Add the beef, cook on all sides until browned.
Once the beef has browned, add the tomatoes, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes or cayenne. Cover the stockpot, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Toss the potatoes into the pot and cover for another 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Now add the garbanzo beans, prunes, and raisins. Cover the stockpot once more and cook for an additional 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through. Just before serving, stir in the honey. Season to taste, adding more salt and pepper, if necessary. Serve the tagine with chopped parsley or cilantro and over couscous, rice, bulgur, or millet.
Serves about 8
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